Tonbridge District
				120 Club results
				Programme for 2009/10
				District officers
				Look to
				District towers

District quarter peal week

The quarter peal week (24 October-1 November) is behind us, and Eric's prepared a writeup to show how well we did. The numbers in square brackets [/] show the corresponding figures for last year.

This year's quarter peal week produced 17 attempts at a quarter plus a session of call changes at Lamberhurst. Of the 17 attempts 16 [16] were successful, the one lost being at East Peckham which perhaps is not surprising. The 113 "ropes" available were manned by 60 [56] ringers, all but four being from the District. There were eight [6] conductors. Two stalwarts each rang seven quarters [1 / 8] during the week and eight [four] ringers rang five or more which suggests that maybe there is a need to try to involve more of the District membership of around 230.

The quarters produced 13 "firsts" of one sort or another, with the quarter of Plain Bob Cinques at Canterbury including six. There were two [four] first quarters, John Harrison of Otford and Paul Thompson of Seal (who has only been ringing for 43 years!); congratulations to both. Special mention should also be made of Bobbie Fairclough and Mike Worthington's first of Stedman Doubles at Otford — a fiendish method at the best of times.

The footnotes include several birthdays, some a little belated and one "youngster" marked 60 years of ringing — doesn't time fly!!

Altogether a worthwhile event and something to build on next year.

Eric Roughley

Brief details of the quarters are given below, with personal firsts, but you'll have to wait for the Comic to get the full story.

Lamberhurst on air

The bells of Lamberhurst will be heard on Radio 4's Bells on Sunday at 5.43am on Sunday 15 November. If you're not usually up at this time on a Sunday, then you have another chance to listen on the following Monday at 12.45am. (To make this a bit clearer, this means much later the same day as the earlier broadcast!)

They will be ringing spliced Plain and Little Bob, and the recording is almost certainly the one made by Nick Davies for the centenary Church Bells of Kent record. Anthony Leeves, who was in the band, adds the following information: The list of ringers on the back of the record sleeve is not given by tower, but from the names given I'm pretty certain that the band was David and Janet Beeken, Nigel Parsons, Penny Hart (now Parsons), Tim Pierce (who was District Secretary then and probably organised the band), and me. Nick suggested we ring the "highest common denominator" of the band, as he put it. Plain and Little Bob was probably stretching the band slightly — but I guess Nick didn't want to have a record of bands ringing only Plain Bob or Grandsire — and the ringing is not brilliant (but it's better than a lot of what gets broadcast on Bells on Sunday) [Ouch!!!].

Recent arrivals in the District might be interested to know that the bells would have been rung from the ground floor in those days. As yet we don't know when the recording was made, but it was probably late 1979 or early 1980.

Webmaster wins the cup (sort of)

Otford held its tower outing in October, and Mr and Mrs Webmaster were pleased to be invited along. A splendid day it was too, with visits to three really good towers for ringing, and to East Bergholt to watch the locals. If you're wondering why we only watched, have a look at this page and select the MPEG video option http://www.keme.net/~k27608-pi/multimedia.htm

However, splendid day as it was, Mr W was rather horrified at the slur on his character made by another member of the outing party (the chap who sends birthday cards of dubious taste to his wife — see below). This fellow had the temerity to make a presentation to Mr W, having drawn the attention of the entire assembled company at lunch to his unnecessary prank. The photos above give an idea of the enormity of the offence caused — though the diners behaved no better in that they burst into inane laughter.

It's not so much a criticism of the exquisitely crafted, er, object, but, Sir I do object to being classified as "old".

Disgusted of Sundridge

ADM 2009

At the ADM held at Tunbridge Wells on 3 October 2009 there was a change of ringing master and assistant, with a swap of Catherines in the former post and the election of Tim Lynch in the latter. The following were elected unopposed for 2009/10:

• Chairman: Jane Nielson
• Secretary: Tessa Worthington
• Treasurer: Mike Bullett
• Ringing Master: Catherine Heathcote
• Assistant: Tim Lynch
• District reps on General Committee: Catherine Heathcote, Tessa Worthington
• Committee members: Bobbie Fairclough, Eric Roughley, Alex Staff (also Look to editor), Mike Worthington

In her report for 2009 Jane paid special tribute to Catherine Lewis, who leaves the District committee after 23 years in harness. This doesn't of course mean that she's stopped banging on about training matters, since she's taken on the role of chairman of the Central Council Education Committee, a post for which we wish her the best of luck.

Incoming Catherine H (L) presents a monster bouquet to outgoing Catherine L (R)

The latest edition of Look to (currently 2009 Third and Fourth Quarters) is now available online. Actually you don't have to download it, you can just read it online if you like. Simply click on the Look To link at the top of this page, or on the KCACR logo above. The email address for Alex Staff, Look to's editor, is what_moriarty@hotmail.com. Snail-mail contributions should be sent to Leydens Cottage, Hartfield Road, Stick Hill, Edenbridge TN8 5NH. Note that the copy date for the first issue of 2010 is 25 December 2009 (better send your offerings in before the ravages of Christmas Day take over!)

Quarter at Kilndown

A quarter of Cambridge Minor was rung at at Kilndown on 11 September 2009 as an 80th birthday compliment to Patrick Mayhew (Lord Mayhew) who is a local ringer at Kilndown.

The bells were raised by a mix of local ringers, including Patrick, and the quarter peal band, and some call changes followed before the quarter peal band took the ropes.

After the quarter Patrick kindly supplied some refreshment suitable for the occasion and we were joined by his wife Jean (Lady Mayhew) who took the photograph.

The band was: Hugo Tracey 1, Eric Roughley 2, Anthony Leeves 3, Mike Bullett 4, Catherine Heathcote 5, Tim Lynch (cond) 6.

From left to right the people are: Tim Lynch, Anthony Leeves, Mike Bullett, Eric Roughley, Patrick Mayhew, Andrew Fellows, Hugo Tracey, Catherine Heathcote, Carol Eglise and Annie Fellows.

Mike Bullett

Ringing resumed at Leigh

Work on the tower, including the new roof, is now complete, and it's all systems go at Leigh as from the middle of August.

Accident at Northfleet

We regret to announce that on 6 July, whilst carrying out initial lightweight dismantling work in connection with replacing bearings at Northfleet, Tony Cresswell of Chevening fell approx 20 feet when a section of the permanent floor on which he was standing collapsed. For further details and updates please click here.

120 Club

The second draw of the 2009/2010 series took place on 7 November at the afternoon practice at Kemsing, and details are shown below. The brown background entries are the current series, while the blue ones are last year's for interest and comparison.

Ray Taylor, the Club's treasurer, writes

Another successful year for the Tonbridge District 120 Club, with all shares sold and £640 soon to find its way towards the maintenance and restoration of bells within our county. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, particularly to those who are non-ringers or have moved out of the county and continue to support the KCACR.

The 2009/10 series of draws commenced at our ADM on 3 October 2009. Here's how it works:

• Anyone over 16 can buy shares in the Club (registered charity) at £10 each — it's not restricted to KCACR members or even to ringers. Each share has a number which goes into a draw at a District event, starting with the ADM in October and ending with the quarterly meeting in July. There are no draws in August or September. The prizes are usually £20, £15 and £10, but they are doubled in the months of October and January. All numbers go into the draws, whether taken up or not, and the proceeds from the 120 Club go to the KCACR Bell Restoration Fund, which is also a registered charity. If 120 shares are sold then that amounts to £640 a year after paying the licence fee.

If you would like to buy a share then please contact me on 07973 123323 or at ray.taylor@easynet.co.uk or download an application form here.

Alan Broad

We've just received the following sad message from Angela Clark: I regret to advise you that Alan Broad, tower captain at Penshurst, died yesterday [13 June] following a massive brain haemorrhage. His eldest son David was staying at the house and accompanied him to Maidstone hospital. Dianne was also with him.

The funeral was at Penshurst on Wednesday 24 June, followed by private interment at Poundsbridge. The service at Penshurst was attended by a congregation which packed the church. Donations may be made either to the Hospice in the Weald or the Saving Penshurst Church appeal. Suitably designated cheques should be sent to H J Johnston & Son, Chiddingstone Causeway, Tonbridge TN11 8LE.

Doris hits 75

No, that's not 75 years of age, but 75 years as a member of the KCACR. At the Sevenoaks annual civic service held on Sunday 14 June 2009 there was a special celebration of Doris Colgate's 75 years' membership. What's more, she's been a member of the St Nicholas band for all of that time. She was presented with a miniature model of Big Ben (the bell of course, not the tower!) from Whitechapel, together with a beautiful bouquet and a cheque from the Tonbridge District.

County chairman Peter Sims was in attendance and presented Doris with a commemorative certificate signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and KCACR secretary Margaret Funnell. A quarter peal was rung at Sevenoaks the previous week in anticipation of the event. As it was feared that she would be shy of the publicity the whole event was successfully kept under wraps until the day, and Doris was blissfully unaware of what was going to take place.

Congratulations on an amazing achievement Doris.

Certificate commemorating 75 years' membership, and Peter and Doris after the presentation [Thanks to Peter Sims for the above two photos]
Doris receiving her flowers (left); Peter, Doris, Lucile Corby (a relative junior at a mere 85) and Jane Nielson, District chairman (right) [Thanks to Warren Taylor for the above two photos]

Legal proceedings at Otford?

Thought this sounded good fun. A quarter was rung on a recent Sunday at Otford, after a confirmation service. The people being confirmed were mainly youngsters and they were told that we were going to try to ring a quarter peal to mark the event. One of the little dears slightly mis-heard this and later told his Mum that the ringers were going to have a Court of Appeal for the confirmation. We know that people are getting increasingly litigious these days, but this seems a step too far.

Edenbridge practices

Please note that Edenbridge practices on Tuesdays now start at 8.00pm and run to 9.30pm, and not as printed in the Handbook.

Tonbridge District ringer sends wife birthday card

One of the bibliophile members of the District recently had the courage to send his wife the picture on the left as a birthday card. We're not at liberty to mention his name, but we are told that Dee saw the funny side.

Striking competition 2009

The District striking competition took place at Otford on 2 May 2009 and ten teams took part (one more than in 2008). Once again we ran two consecutive contests, one for callchanges and one for methods, with six entries for the former and four for the latter (one more than last year).

The judges were Anne Rueff and Kate Desbottes from Redhill and Bletchlingley respectively. They judged the two parts of the contest separately, giving the results after each section.

In introducing their decisions they said that they'd enjoyed the ringing, and mentioned that they felt the tenor had an unfair burden in striking contests, because it's the bell most easy to hear — and therefore the bell most likely to be criticised, but as ever some bands had coped better than others.

The chairman proposed a vote of thanks to the judges, the vicar for the use of the bells, and to all others who had worked to make a successful event — especially the local ringers who played tea ladies for the afternoon. The final results were declared as follows:

The slightly odd results for the methods section are webmaster's attempt to produce a tactful summary of what happened. Note that both the "winning" teams were scratch bands and did not therefore qualify.

There are a few piccies below. Click on the thumbnail image to see a larger version.

	Tonbridge callchange band, who came second but actually won because . . .
	. . . the callchange scratch band actually came first, but didn't qualify because they were a scratch band.
	It's not quite clear what Tim Lynch from Tonbridge is doing. Possibly users of this site might like to come up with up a suitable caption ("suitable" in this context means printable on a family website)*.
	Having sorted out the above confusion, Tim receives the callchange trophy from Ann, while Kate looks on.
	This may look like a case of déja vue: this is the Tonbridge methods team, who actually came second, but won the trophy because . . .
	the scratch team came first, but were ineligble . . . Get the picture?
	Anne presents the method ringing trophy to Tim.
* There has been only one response to this request, from Steve Davis of Ashford. He suggests "Having a good scratch does wonders for your prospects in the Tonbridge District Competition". Thanks Steve - our best yet [ ;-) ]

Ringing at East Peckham

The BBC were at East Peckham on 21 February 2009 to cover ringing to mark the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT)'s 40th anniversary. For the story and links to external snippets click here.

Trivia trivia

Just when everyone thought that The Trivia Evening had passed into the memory zone, we now receive the following from quizfuhrer Anthony, further enhancing the agony. Thanks Anthony, it beats training days.

What did no team answer correctly?

Horse latitudes are so named because horses were thrown overboard by becalmed sailors [because the horses needed the scarce water]

Ungava Bay is in Canada

The Lavender Line is named after the Ringmer coal merchants

Velcro was invented in the 1940s [1941 to be precise]

What did only one team answer (so they can feel smug, especially as the winning team did not get any of these)?

Carrantuohill is Ireland's highest mountain (Feeling the Pinch, but with some licence on the spelling)

The capital of Mozambique is Maputo (Shipbourne Shambles)

The source of the river Medway is near Turners Hill (Quick Witted Cricket Critics)

The first USA satellite was Explorer 1 (Hangers on)

The first batsman to hit six consecutive centuries in first class cricket was C B Fry (rg!fwz)

What did everyone get right?

The radio show host who resigned from the BBC was Russell Brand

Nelson Mandela visited the Queen just before his 90th birthday

John McCain was the Republican presidential candidate

London's first airport for civilian flights was at Croydon

My Fair Lady was based on Pygmalion

Cliff Richard's real name is Harry Webb (although only Brains of Brasted had the full Harry Rodger Webb and with the "d" in Rodger - there must be a a devoted Cliff Richard fan in that team) [there was]

The music used by the 1984 Winter Olympics ice-dancing gold medallists was Ravel's Bolero

Barque and barquentine are types of (sailing) ship

Nitrous oxide is more commonly known as laughing gas

Only one team scored 100% in a round — Madjac on the 2008 round, although there were some 9s. The geography round had the lowest scores with no team scoring more than 5 — clearly too many of the geography questions related to little known facts and my apologies to the teams that played their joker on that round. History had the biggest range of scores — from 1 to 9 — I guess you either you do or you don't have a historian in your team .

What have I learned? That a little more tolerance on date/amount answers might be well received, that I had better not have a geography round next time, and that if marks were taken off for spelling then some teams might have lost a lot of marks (was it all the Morse fans that spelt Lewes as Lewis?) — don't worry, there are no plans to deduct marks for spelling mistakes next year.

Garn, make 'em sweat. Let's go for perfection. After all, this is the Tonbridge District!

Eileen Roughley

We are very sorry to have to announce the death on 22 January 2009 of Eileen, wife of Eric Roughley. She had been in poor health for quite some time and she passed away peacefully in her sleep in hospital.

The funeral was at St Augustine's RC church in Tunbridge Wells on Thursday 5 February at 10am. Following the cremation at Tunbridge Wells a splendid spread was laid on at the George and Dragon at Speldhurst, for which many thanks.

Our thoughts are with you Eric.

Trivia Evening 2009

Saturday 17 January was the occasion of the sixteenth Tonbridge District Trivia evening. Twenty-one teams were present for a very enjoyable evening. Quizmaster Anthony Leeves presented a balanced set of questions which kept all teams involved. Anthony is also a dab hand at compiling crosswords, and he used this interest to prepare not just a list of round names, but cryptic clues to their actual identity. Fiendish plot, Moriarty, but very entertaining.

The winners were Super Sevenoaks with a score of 68 (last year's winners produced an even more impressive score of 78. The quizmaster presented the team with the winners' shield and valuable individual prizes (see photo below).

The first eight teams in the competition were:

• Super Sevenoaks (scored 68)
• The Old Flames (64)
• RG!FWZ (no, not a typo) (62)
• Kemsing Klangers (61)
• The Quick Witted Cricket Critics (try saying that after a couple of pints of Larkins) (60)
• Hadlow Hopefuls (60)
• St Mary's Doubles (60)
• Brains of Brasted (60)

During the interval a delicious chilli supper was served with a vegetarian option, followed by a selection of puddings which presented a cholesterol calamity, but were delightful. The gate was a little up on last year's, but then so were the expenses, but the net income was a pleasing £474.28. The raffle, with the usual plethora of prizes, raised a very significant £355, up 7½% on last year, so the final figure raised for the BRF came to a pretty reasonable £829.28. [Recession, what recession?]

A big thank you to Jane Nielson and the District committee together with other helpers for another wonderful evening, and a special thank you to our quizmaster Anthony, whose first stint in the job this was. Judging by his opening success, this may not be his last. In case you're wondering, those wicker bells on his table were the winners' prizes. It's not that tonal quality has taken a turn for the worse in the District — they're actually bird feeders stuffed with the sort of things our avian friends like to feast on.

Thanks also to Mike Bullett for being a very slick scoreboard operator despite his severed Achilles' tendon. After sixteen successful years you can see why we bill this do as The Trivia Evening!

There are a few piccies below. If you hover over the small image you'll see the caption; click on the small image to see a larger version, then click on the <back> button on your browser to return to the thumbnails again. Once on the large version you may right click and choose to save it on your own computer.

Programme of events for 2009/10

Once again we've produced a programme to last around to the first quarter of 2010. This is to ensure that all events appear in the KCACR Handbook right round until the next edition.

A new feature was added for the first time in 2007. You'll notice that all venues appear in blue and are underlined. This means that if you click on the place name you'll be taken directly to a largish scale map. At the top of the map, just under KCACR, there is a scale indicator, and you can click on this to make the map smaller or larger as you wish. Have fun!

For a downloadable copy of the programme to go on your tower noticeboard click here. Print it out on a bit of coloured paper so it stands out on your noticeboard.

Change to Tonbridge quarter attempts

With effect from February 2009 it is proposed to hold a service of evensong at Hadlow on the first Sunday of each month and the ringers at Hadlow will be ringing for this service.

It is currently the practice to go for a quarter peal at Tonbridge on the first Sunday in each month and our friends from Hadlow join us in these attempts. In view of the new arrangements, it is proposed to move the quarters at Tonbridge to the SECOND Sunday each month starting in February. The entry in the Handbook will be amended to reflect the new arrangements.

Visitors are always welcome to join the Tonbridge ringers on Sunday evenings from 5.45 to 6.30 when no quarter peal is being rung.

Angela Clark
Tonbridge tower secretary

Carol service 2008

We promised mince pies . . .	. . . and mulled wine. So we fulfilled our promise.

The District held its annual carol service at Sevenoaks on 13 December. Despite the almost perpetual rain [a quote from 2007, but just as valid in 2008] a congregation of between 45 and 50 turned out to sing as only ringers do. A sum of nearly £116 raised from the collection and wine donations was contributed to the KCACR BRF, for which the associatiom is truly grateful. Thanks to all who helped to make the event such a success yet again.

Presentation to Lucile

There was a short ceremony at St Mary's Chiddingstone on Sunday 14 December to make a presentation to Lucile Corby in recognition of her nearly 40 years of service to ringing and many other aspects of life at St Mary's. There was ringing from 11.30am to 12noon, followed by the presentation to Lucile of a model Whitechapel bell. The photos show (clockwise): the Rev Ian Harrison presenting Lucile with her bell; the bell getting its first ring; the altar frontal worked by Lucile for St Mary's.

Peter Romney

Peter Romney died peacefully just after midday on 14 September. A quarter peal on handbells preceded the funeral at Hadlow on Monday 22 September, and there was general ringing after the service. It was great to see several of Peter's grandchildren having their first pull on a bellrope under the expert eye of Stan Jenner. Peter was a Vice President of the KCACR, having served the Association in many ways over many years, including a time as Hon Gen Secretary, BRF committee convenor and Chairman of the Tonbridge District, to name but a few. Margaret sent us this note at the end of November: Margaret and family would like to thank, most sincerely, all the KCACR members who showed such support during Peter’s illness, with cards and messages at the time of his death and with their presence at his funeral celebration. I only wish it were possible to thank everyone individually. I feel sure Peter would have been astounded to learn that something approaching £1600 was divided between the Hospice in the Weald, who gave us such support, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association for research into finding a cure for this foul complaint. May I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a joyful new year of ringing. Margaret Romney

Postscript: in addition to the money mentioned by Margaret, a further sum, totalling nearly £1250, was raised for the BRF from the sale of some of Peter's ringing books. Webmaster feels he must be speaking for the KCACR as a whole when he utters a simple thank you to Margaret for her generosity in supporting a cause so dear to Peter's heart.

Any old ropes?

Slightly surprised to see a couple of used bellropes on sale in a fairly classy Westerham antiques shop recently (they used to be called junk shops when I were a nipper). We wonder where the ropes came from — replies on a postcard please to Webmaster. Thanks to Catherine Lewis for the piccies and for being so observant.

What can I send? A write-up of your tower outing, your ringing tips and hints (anything from learning bellhandling to Spliced Surprise), historical snippets from the history of your tower, anecdotes from an interesting practice you attended on holiday, other announcements and — of course — your quarter peals and peals! Send your articles to: what_moriarty@hotmail.com [note that it's what_moriarty, and not a space in there] or Leydens Cottage, Hartfield Road, Stick Hill, Edenbridge TN8 5NH

Tonbridge District mailing list

After a lot of thought, and following discussion at District committee meetings, it was decided that we would set up a District emailing group, and this is your invitation to join this group.

Several other KCACR Districts have such a group and they are proving very useful as a means of talking to other ringers in the area. Quite a few people use the lists to drum up ringers for weddings or quarter peals, announce cancelled practice nights, remind folk that subs are due, that articles are due in for the District newsletter, or that tickets are on sale for this, that or the other event. You could ask for help in learning to ring something. Reminders may well be sent out that there's a meeting coming up. And so on.

The system works pretty simply. At the end of all this blurb there is a box [Subscribe to tonbridge group] to enable you to join the list. Enter your email address and click on the logo. The system will then send you an email to confirm that you really do want to sign up. The email will give you the option to go to Yahoo! Groups or reply by clicking reply and then send. If you want the simple life choose the latter. The other option offers more facilities but unless you're happy with online registrations you might wish to avoid this for now (you can always change your setup at a later date).

I have to approve applications, so there should be no chance of unwanted subscribers slipping in. One of the parts of your application is your email address. Note that you can only post messages from this address, and not from any other addresses (such as work ones) you might have. This again is to ensure that no rogue postings slip through.

Once you're signed up you can post messages to a single address for all other members of the group to read and, if they feel like it, reply - again to all the group. Think of it as a crowd sitting round a table in a pub after ringing.

Go on, be adventurous and sign up. It seems a great idea to use modern technology to help link ringers who practise very old technology.

If you have any queries or are unsure what this is all about, please get in touch here and I'll try to help.

Frank Lewis

District communication You will be glad to know that despite modern technological advances in the 20th (and now the 21st) century, ingenuity and inventiveness are still alive and well in the Tonbridge District committee. One of our members does not have access to email. So, what does a girl do but resort to more traditional means of communication?

Chiddingstone history

There's a long and detailed history of the bells at Chid on their local history website. It was written by Lucile Corby and has an enormous amount of information covering over 400 years. Well worth a visit — click here to check it out.

For training day and general information ring the ringing master: Catherine Heathcote on 01892 785577 (email catherineheathcote@btinternet.com). The District secretary may be contacted at tondist@btinternet.com.